


"Papercut"

by Sweetloot



Series: Inspired By [9]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Study, Gen, Manipulation, all the way until the AI are gone but before the hunt for epsilon, basically a what if story, feel sorta bad about writing this one, inside maine's head during project freelancer, warning for gif usage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 01:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1800031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetloot/pseuds/Sweetloot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Something was really wrong with his AI."</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Papercut"

**Author's Note:**

> (Inspired by ["Papercut"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRbYEOKzt0o) by Linkin Park.)
> 
> ((Gif from [here](http://redvsbluegifs.tumblr.com/post/42367398920).))

Something was really wrong with his AI.

It wasn't really noticeable at first. In the beginning he had just been glad to have a way to effectively communicate with his team again, but as time went on he began to notice Sigma behaving oddly.

Sigma sometimes changed the inflection of his words, not communicating them the way Maine had intended for them to be communicated. Maine didn't really care if a slight difference in intonation offended someone, but the idea that his AI could possibly change the meaning of what he said troubled him.

He had a conversation with Sigma about that and was assured that his AI would run a full diagnostic on his language algorithms to ensure that they were running optimally so there would be no further mistakes.

Maine had grunted, his thought to the AI being a simple _'good'_ before he had gone to train.

It got worse after that.

Sometimes he would wake up exhausted, feeling as though he only got a few hours sleep when really he had gone to bed for the standard eight hours he allotted himself. Maine shrugged it off though, assuming it was just left over stress from their last mission and left it at that.

It wasn't until later when North had asked him if Sigma had been talking to Theta that he started thinking his tiredness wasn't just from the mission.

“I'm not accusing you of anything, but has Sigma been around Theta lately? When I woke up this morning he seemed freaked out. I tried to get him to tell me what was wrong, but all I got was that Sigma would be mad at him if he told. Do you know what that was about?”

Maine didn't. It was against protocol for their AIs to interact with each other. It was a little difficult in Maine's case given that Sigma had to communicate for him, but the others were always careful to have their AIs away when speaking to him, so, no, Maine didn't know anything about that. He hadn't even been around North for the past few days, different missions and training schedules not matching up keeping them apart. Maine gave Sigma the go ahead to explain.

“I am sorry, Agent North, but Agent Maine does not know why your AI would be behaving in this way. Agent Maine has not been in your vicinity in the past three days and, therefore, would not have had the opportunity to come into contact with Theta. Perhaps there has been a mistake?”

North tilted his head to the side, thinking. “That is true, but Theta wouldn't lie about this.”

“Perhaps he is malfunctioning?”

“I don't know, maybe. I'll take him to go get checked out later. Sorry about that, Maine.”

Maine grunted, thinking _'whatever'_ , but what Sigma said instead was, “Not a problem, North.”

That wasn't the last time he would say something not quite like what Maine wanted to say.

There were days when Maine was fine, sleeping alright, but then the days where he would be tired for no reason would come back. Maine was starting to think he was paranoid.

Then the blackouts started.

They were small, at first. Maine noticing he was zoning out during briefings and would have to have Sigma relay to him what he missed. 

There were other moments like during lunch where he would blank out only to have Sigma be speaking to Wash about something, the kid replying with food in his mouth.

The more worrying moments were when he would be in one place one moment, then somewhere else the next.

Sigma wouldn't listen to him though, claiming that everything was functional and that he had nothing to worry about.

The blackouts became more frequent, lasting for longer and longer periods of time.

He tried getting help, but Sigma never relayed his messages, took control whenever he thought about getting rid of the AI or messaging someone through his HUD.

Sometimes he's out of it completely, other times he's vaguely aware of what's going on around him, but can't do anything about it. He knows that Sigma is collecting AI, he's aware of his talks with the other fragments when the other Freelancers are sleeping, is aware that he's killing his friends, stealing their tech and implanting himself with their AI.

He knows he's falling apart, can tell his mind is splintering and his body is failing him, can feel the way Sigma pushes him on further anyway.

Maine knows he'll never be himself again, knows that even if he did get rid of the AI in his head that he'd be just a shell of the man he used to be, a shell with a mind cracking to pieces with the ghost of the AI he's had in his head haunting him, their ambitions and goals clouding over his own. He still tries to fight it though, tries to claw them out of his head, but Sigma won't let him, simply taking control and blacking out his mind again.

The last time he's awake, the last time he's himself and not shattering into pieces, he's wondering who shot Wash.


End file.
